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how do i run checkdisk on an external hard drive in linux?

every couple of weeks i experience problems with my fantom 1tb GF 100EU external hard drive. it is only about 5 months old. it either doesn't show up on the desktop, can't be found in "my computer", or if it is found, cannot be accessed. sometimes i receive an error message and part of the "details" of this error message say to run a "windows checkdisk:" which i know how to do, but it takes over a day.
i have done a little research and read that the linux equivalent to checkdisk is fdisk. lets say for instance, the external fantom is G, what would be the proper command to run fdisk on G?
thanks.

I can be found either 40 miles west of Chicago, in Chicago, or in a galaxy far, far away.

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If this was formatted at the factory, it either has a FAT32 or NTFS file system on it. If you are using this exclusively for Linux, then reformat it with the ext3 file system and when you have problems run fsck on it. It might have some marginally bad blocks, so when you format it for ext2/ext3 you can have it exhaustively check for and log bad blocks so they are mapped out of use by the file system. Usually a drive these days will remap bad blocks automatically, but marginal ones can still cause problems such as you are experiencing.

Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real time.
Just remember, Semper Gumbi - always be flexible!